CycleDog: (n) 1. An all-weather bicyclist, often regarded as one very sick puppy with a bad attitude. 2. A ankle-biting poodle with a Mohawk. (l)Canis
familiaris cyclus

Friday, December 14, 2007

Ice Storm Update 5 - final post this subject

All the people working to restore our lives to normal deserve a most humble, grateful thank you. Police, fire, and ambulance crews answered calls almost continuously. The Owasso Fire Department answered a record 65 calls in a 24 hour period. Police officers were equally harried.

But this event involved more than emergency services, of course. Public Works employees struggled to clear streets of fallen trees and get traffic lights working again once power returned. Amazingly, city workers did this and maintained regular trash pickups. For that matter, the Post Office delivered our mail every day too, a note of normalcy in a world otherwise gone awry.

The linemen who worked outside in nasty conditions deserve our special thanks. They have a dangerous job in the best of times, and that danger is compounded by cold, fatigue, and the pressure to get the job done. Quite literally, restoring power saves lives.

Finally, I know there are others I haven't listed both in government and the private sector, people who worked and continue to work at mitigating the effects of this disaster. Truly, you've earned our heartfelt thanks.

51. 12/14/2007 2:03:59 PM, kuntry kuzzin,I have a 3 phase primary lateral line in my back yard, the center phase is down for 4 spans, there are no broken poles or hardware and no trees to trim, this could easily be repaired by splicing the broken wire and stringing it back up. I thought that if you had dangerous wires down in your area that PSO considered that a priority. As of today, there hasn't been one swinging dick from PSO come out and investigate. When I talk with the folks on the phone they report 130 customers affected by the outage. What is the magic number for a response from these bone heads? I know they want the largest numbers on 1st but isn't 130 enough to get a little attention? I gaurantee you that if my bill is late 1 day next month I'll get a response.

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In my previous career, I spent 15 years as a Journeyman lineman and have worked in the aftermath of many tropical storms, hurricanes and ice storms, I will be the first to thank these men for the jobs that they do and the sacrifices they have made to be away from their families.

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I did have the opportunity to visit with a a few of these guys this morning in the lobby of the Crowne Plaza downtown, I found it interesting to find out that these gentleman had worked many storms like this before, they said that it appeared that PSO was completely unprepaired for this type of storm, he then told me that they had been at the expo square for 2 days before they ever hit a lick.

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In my opinion this has been POORLY handled by local officials from top to bottom!